One of the nicer parts to Battletech reaching the Dark Age is finally getting a solid look at vehicles that we never knew anything about before. Sure, there's the stats on the click-dials, but those could vary so wildly between factions using a unit that gauging what a vehicle was... eh, it wasn't so helpful sometimes. A good case was a tank that I fell in love with the looks of when we first saw it in the Age of Destruction starter set- a red and white wedge of a tank called a Sekhmet. Now that we finally know what it is and what it does, it's every bit as impressive as its looks promised- today we'll give it a quick look.
Sekhmets are the result of the Nova Cat Clan seeing the writing on the wall and knowing that eventually, the DCMS was going to be knocking on Irece's doors-and not in a neighborly way. Quietly, the Clan went on the warpath, planning to defend their homeland. While the effort eventually proved to be in vain, one of the results was a big, mean defensive tank, one that the Cats seem to have been happy to sell to anyone with two coins to rub together. The tanks were stalwarts of the Cat defense during their uprising, and have fought in almost every major army (and a mess of minor ones) in three decades of combat across human space. And it's little wonder why it's been so popular- this really is a gem of a heavy tank.
The beast starts off with an XL fusion motor, powering the 65-ton Sekhmet to a fairly unimpressive 4/6 movement curve. With this being intended as a defensive tank, that's not the worst thing in the world, but it does mean that on offense your tank won't be working with cavalry units, at least. Despite the intent of being a defensive unit, by the way, Sekhmets work just fine on the attack, as long as you don't mind it taking a while. The XL engine provides heat sinks that the tank uses to effect, but it does bump up the cost of the machine- so while this is a great tank, buying them in bulk is probably not a great option for your average militia.
Those who do spend the money, however, will be pleased to find that their investment is one that will last a long time. Sekhmets are impressively hard to kill thanks to fourteen tons of ferro-fibrous armor. That low-slung forward glacis can take an impressive 77 points to break, more than some vehicles half again the Sekhmet's weight, and fifty points cover each side as well in case the defensive lines get flanked. The rear can hold against two AC-20 shots of its own before cracking, and the small rear-mounted turret holds another fifty. This isn't a fun tank to bring down, and in its intended defensive roles even motive hits aren't really a horrible thing- it wasn't going anywhere anyway, after all. Killing a Sekhmet takes a lot of work, to say the least.
And you'll want to spend that effort, because we've got a pretty handy array of weapons on here. The turret holds two big barrels, which the author assumed on the old Dark Age sculpt to be Gauss Rifles (also assuming the tank was MUCH larger than 65 tons!). However, these ended up being equally-impressive large pulse lasers. While this does require an extra ten heat sinks over the engine's included ten, the Clan large pulse laser's utility makes it very much worth the extra effort. Clan tank gunners being what they are (see: 'not so good'), the added accuracy from these weapons can make the difference between a light show for the enemy and taking a major beating. In the hands of a better tank crew (say, one from an elite Inner Sphere armor unit?), a Sekhmet can score devastating hits in situations that most other units are forced to check fire completely, or at least attempt wild shots. Backing the lasers are forward-mounted SRM-6 racks- no Streaks here, just standard old SRMs. That means the two tons of ammo on board can be switched over to inferno rounds (or flechette if you're really mean) at a moment's notice- handy! A pair of AP Gauss Rifles, sharing 40 rounds of ammo, poke out towards the front as well. That's some hefty punch, starting with the lasers and getting worse when things get close enough to fill with SRMs. Combine it with the tanks' survivability, and Sekhmets are unpleasant indeed.
Normally here's where I would cover any variants or upgrades, but the Sekhmet lacks any variants, a surprise considering over three decades of hard use amongst so many factions. But there's not much to really improve on, at the end of the day. Removing the pulse lasers could save you up to 22 tons, but would the replacement equipment really be an upgrade over the lasers? You only get five tons off removing the SRMs, seven if you do the Gauss as well... not really a great deal to do with that weight to improve past what it had to begin with. It's not the perfect tank, but it's a hard one to really dislike.
Using a Sekhmet is typically Clan-oriented. "Point at enemy, advance and pull trigger, repeat as needed". The lasers being in a turret, you're not all that vulnerable to being flanked, and the armor is heavy enough that you don't need to worry about an Achilles heel. Obviously the SRMs are forward-mounted (oh, and the Gauss rifles, those too), so keeping those pointed at a target is handy, but the lasers are obviously your main weapon- using them is the priority, with the SRMs best used to destroy targets already wounded by the lasers.
Killing one... today's going to suck, friends. It doesn't mind motive hits if it's on guard duty, it's built like a brick outhouse, and its weapons are good-ranged, accurate, and powerful. It has to be destroyed, but it's going to take some serious work. And remember- Clan tanks often show up in pairs, so once you kill one... time for its friend. There's not much better way to do this than just pounding it apart- so get started with the biggest guns you have and hope for some luck.
Hey, you know what we need to kill these? LB-10X cannons would be handy. Good thing next week's vehicle can provide plenty of that!
